mac certified RAM in new powerbook - or not?

B

ballyhoo42

Active member
I'm planning to buy a 17" powerbook tomorrow. I can buy it at the student rate from apple.com, or buy it from macmall.com for pretty much the same price. From apple I would have 1 gig of RAM (two 512 RAM, apple certified) and from MacMall I would have 1.5 gig, 1 gig of it being Viking (not apple certified). If for some strange reason the viking RAM causes something to go wrong with the laptop, it voids my applecare warranty.
I'm not going to be editing HD so I don't know if I really need more than 1 gig of RAM. (I bought my DVX one month ago.) I may also need to run Virtual PC so for that I'm told I need 1 gig of RAM.

I know I could get more for money if I didn't need a laptop, but I have quite a few work applications which require a laptop.

Should I go apple.com or macmall?
Thanks.
Confused newbie.
 
I've never heard of RAM damaging a computer, but bad RAM does cause applications to flake out. Sometimes a mismatch can also cause a computer to run slowly. I added some Kingston to my Powerbook a year and a half ago and it runs A-okay. The cheap stuff I tried in my iBook three years ago made it run like a 66Mhz Pentium... super slow! FWIW, I would think laptop memory from MacMall would be a safe buy. Hope this helps.
 
When I switched to MAC I thought I was going to need Virtual Pc too. I didn't and haven't used it since. As for memory, the MacMall deal will do you fine and not hurt your computer.
 
Use only certified memory on a Mac! don't know why but Mac are much more sensible to ram quality... branded and certified menory prevent crashes and malfunctions.
Many hardware problems are reported on the net because of bad ram expecially by Imac users.
kingston produce exellent memory for M ac (www.kingston.com)
By the way machines bought directly from Applestore comes standard with Samsung memory usually considered not so good.
I think Kingstone is the best way
remember you have to buy paired (pay attenction when you buy! paired memory are sold in kits of 2 or 4,6,8 ram modules ) and don't mix different size of ram if you want 4GB dont' buy 2x1GB and 4x512MB this would create problems and reduces general performance (someone says it's not true... tested and...discovered i was right!)
buy 4x1GB

Thats all hope is all clear and can help
 
Lots of internet lore about RAM, and folks love to repeat it without verification, so I will speak from personal experience- I've only had bad RAM once, and must have bought 20-30 gb of RAM for various machines at various times. I usually buy from thechipmerchant.com, as they are local for me.

fn
 
Yesterday I bought my 17" powerbook from Macmall with 512 RAM (mac) in one dimm and 1 GB RAM (viking) in the other. I figured I was OK based on what folks where saying. Now I read your post MICHELEG and I'm concerned I might have problems. Viking is not mac certified - I think - plus I don't have the RAM in an even pair.
I suppose if necessary I could have the 1 gig of Viking taken out. I'd have to get a service person to do it, I don't think I'd dare do it myself. The 1 gig only cost me $40 after the rebate.
I didn't understand that I could buy RAM not from Mac and and it would still be Mac certified RAM which would not put my warranty at risk, or the computer.
I did look up the kingston site and bookmarked it.
Dang.
Where on the net did you find the info about bad RAM by IMAC users? Also, is it going to be different for a powerbook vs an IMAC?
 
Well thanks everyone.
I also called Viking and they say the test their RAM out on each particular model.
If I understand it correctly, at worst the RAM would create problems that could be fixed by replacing the RAM. Everyone has told me that the RAM is either on or off, and doesn't damage anything else on the machine.
I sure appreciate everyone's help with this.
I can't wait to start editing.
 
My partner bought some ram for his G5 desktop and the machine didn't stand-up on the performance end, crashings etc, were the norm. OWC replaced the ram with Samsung ram and at this point the computer is working reasonably smoothly. It's no gem though!
 
I've used non mac certified ram in eleven Macs so far and not a problem. Stop worrying. Mac Mall would not sell you something that would break your computer. There is a site somewhere that shows some of the cheaper ram causes slightly slower performance as in 4 tenths of a nanosecond. The purists will tell you that is like someone defecating on your children. I think it's nerds.
 
... Glad to hear about your new Mac.

FWIW, that junk I tried in my old iBook was more than 4 tenths of a nanosecond slower, but perhaps there were other issues I was not aware of. I'm not a nerd, thankfully. Lol.
 
Here you can find apple official instruction about expanding ram memory on your mac. also contains instractions to upgrade yourself your memory step by step.

For G5 owners
http://developer.apple.com/document...owerMacG5/4Expansion/chapter_5_section_2.html

For PowerBook owners
http://developer.apple.com/document...acintosh_CPUs-G4/17inchPowerBookG4/index.html

I'ts absolutly true your power book dosn't require paired memory but... pay attenction to what they say Available as build to order options are 1 GB and 2 GB RAM. that menas 2x512MB or 2x1GB anything else can work but it's outside your powerbook factory specifications.

For what concerne my experience your Mac will work better (2x512MB) insead of (1x512MB plus 1x1GB) and you'll have benefits in intensive task if thay are paired and unbuffered
 
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